The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1887-09-01

rren ~ nsz,aA AgEss.,suiAl
RoAAAeo.
when. Nr. Editor, the notice Of my Pien-taa
peaches appsared In Ne papsn rscslysd le,ters
soId mutt ffom. II had that sosSslv, the writ
era wanted some tress- II was . chance for
es,ecnSatiou. but had TO state that the peach
We the same old Pien.tau. and that through
cultivation It had developed into the delicious
fruit Of which they saw notice. There dis-
position upon the part OF some TO claim that
there are sessral oarieti1s Of the Pien-tau. This
We believe to be . mistake have noticed on
the same tree, and many trees. different colored
fruit, and the size and color and flavor OF fruit
b dependent on coil, fertiEing, exposure to sun,
servable in trees il . very few feet or steps Of
each other. Thus far We have only one variety
of the Pien-tau. OF all the early peaches II
has no superior a. 70 size, or flavor. The Pien-
tau sports, which are produced nom it, SEED
are distinct peaches - 10 flavor, size, shape
and color. 1t also hybridizes with other peaches
very readily, more 80 than the Honey Peach.
The sports are very fine. among the best is the
Queen Of tie South, peach a. large as summer
peaches and of very 6ne flavor, white meat and
very Juicy The Hybrids and the best we have
seen are the Bidwell Peach, and Bars Daisy
Capt Barr wrote me that peaches fom his tree
weighed as much as ten ouncea Those he sent
me were as to size, color and aaver very much
like the Bidwell Peach and I should presume
them identical. OF these hybrids there are
many and they are all good Florida can now
boast the greatest variety and the finest early
peaches Of any State in the United States.
have new peach that is distinct from any other
early peach. 1t is not of the Pien tau strain nor
the Honey. If l had by me the description
given in the Florida Dtspatch would inclose it.
The peach seems to belong TO the blood family.
1t is a free stone, with red meat, good size,
juicy and fine favor. think 1t is destined to
become very popular peach, tor It rpened
two weeks earlier than my Pen taus.
Having only the one tree and having
knowledge of its bearing two years, proceeded
at once TO multiply il and have succeeded in
placing fifty In grove form and about 400 in the
market. l call it The DePass Early. Hereto
fore l have been careful to place summer buds
and dormant buds in one and two year old stock
for the market and for the reason that when
roots have simple bud or small stock the tree
is apt to grow off better, catch up with large
tree and pass It the second year if not the irst.
very greatly fear that the idea of much wood is
too deeply rooted in the public mind to efface it.
and shall have TO make large trees TO meet the
demand. As to my nursery stock of Pien tau
and Honey peach trees they are as good and as
large as any would desire. My new varieties
and summer and fall trees are all summer and
fall buds the latter being dormant. l am plant
ing now largely of my fall peaches for shipping
and l am sure they will prove profitable. l am
trying several new peaches. One IS the Onder-
d0nk. 1t is q Texas peach and very fine. II
fruted last year and this and If it is satisfactory
another year will offer ii 10 the market.
We have received letter from our old friend,
Gen. John D. Kennedy, U. s. Consul at Shang-
hal, China, who has promised to send US in the
way of seed and trees and vines, everything that
is good or worth anything. We have set apart
already place for that fruit and we hope to get
from II something that will be OF service to our
State.
The prices brought this year for peaches have
been very fine. l sold mostly in Florida and
averaged over $50 per bushel. My shipments
North averaged me over $400. l am satisfied
that nv commission merchant North sold my
fruit for less than half it would have brought if
he had been more careful in selling it, Pien-tau
peaches are shipped too green and they have
made but little reputation North because of their
small size and bitter taste. ] shipped mine in
. refrigerator car and shipped peaches 80 ripe
that, if they had been sent TO DeJIand they would
have rotted in transit, that went 10 New York
all right These peaches were picked for the
purpose and shipped when some of them were
so ripe Is to be soft and skin marked with that
peculiar transparency common to the ripe Pien-
tau. The Honey being q clear stone is moro
popular North than the Pien-tau. Picked
when nearly ripe they bear transportation finely
and sell at fine prices. The refrigerator, how
ever, will become factor in our shipping here
after and with it is solved difficulty that has
been in the way of our people. Colonel Mccoy,
the genial and wide awake General Passenger
and Freight Agent of the South Florida Rail
road, told me he intended 10 place q refriger-
ator on his road for peaches next season. Next
season also will open up the Key West and Cuba
markets and very soon South America will be-
come a consumer of Florida peaches This year
we succeeded after trying over twelve months to
get freight charges on the Plant steamers to Key
West and Havana, but the first shipment in con-
sequence of the carelessness of express route
agents, did not reach Tampa on time, and were
sold there, and then the yellow fever prevented
other shipments. A point I wdnt to stress, made
in my first letter is, that buyers should not buy
trees that are overgrown, however thrifty they
may look or however reasonable it may appear
to them that ii is the thing. There is vast diff
ference between the peach and the orange The
latter grows slower, fruits slower, is an evergreen
rapidly and it's health depends on rapid growing
at the start fruits the second or third year of its
life. sheds its leaves annually, goes to sleep and
wakes again to benefit and bless its careful mas
ter. A peach tree, therefore, with q large body
whose roots are necessarily mutilaied when dug
up, is not as apt 10 grow and thrive If there is
much difference in the soil and the climate, as if
it was a small body or bud with good roots.
When the body or bud is small the roots sustain
the bud or body and grow with the bud. mean
by soil simply this, land that has been highly
fertized to make stock large in order to take
the eye. Again be sure not to fertize peach
tree when you set it out nor is it safe to do so
until about the middle of March, or LIST of April,
and lightly then.
These hints for the benefit of those who have
planted trees and who expect 10 plant, we give
your readers in the hope that they will be of ser
vice 10 them In our catalogue soon TO be
Issued, even now in the hands of the printer, we
give hints TO growers and furnish the same to
those who buy trees from US.
JAS p DRPAss
ARCHER FLA.
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